Using Your Wealth to Live a Life Free From Regret
In Bill Perkin’s book, Die With Zero, he challenges readers to do all they can to extract the maximum amount of value from their money during their lifetime.
His book is specifically written for high-net-worth individuals and families who will likely leave a sizable inheritance when they pass. And while some of his advice may seem counterintuitive, like saving less and spending more while you’re young or giving your heirs their inheritance in their 30s when they need it the most, rather than waiting till you die, many consider Bill to be a master in using your wealth to live a life free from regret.
And one of the highlights of Bill’s book is the concept of “Time-Bucketing”—a simple technique to help you avoid leaving key experiences or adventures on the table.
But, before diving into Bill’s unique time-bucketing strategy, it helps to understand Bill’s paradigm.
In his book, Bill highlights the work of Bronnie Ware, an Australian palliative caretaker who sat bedside with her patients in their final weeks of life.
As Bronnie sat with her patients in their last moments, she listened as they recounted their lives, often discussing the things they wished they’d done differently over the years—the things they regret. Years later, Bronnie wrote a blog post highlighting the top regrets of the dying (make sure link is nofollow and opens to new tab) that later became an award-winning book.
Bill draws on that work when illustrating the importance of mapping out your ideal life.
He writes: “Her patients’ number one regret was wishing they’d had the courage to live a life true to themselves—as opposed to the life that others expected of them.” He goes on: “It’s a regret about not pursuing your dreams, and therefore having those dreams go unfulfilled.”
And Bill believes that one of the primary reasons we fail to pursue our dreams is that we simply fail to realize how limited our time is.
In his book, he highlights the results of an experiment conducted by a team of psychologists that asked a group of college freshmen to imagine they’d be moving far away in 30 days and told them to plan the next 30 days accordingly. In other words: take advantage of your limited time because it will be your last opportunity to enjoy the people and places you love most at your university. Then, week by week, students were asked to write down their activities.
In contrast, a second group of college freshmen were just asked to track their weekly activities—without any emphasis on savoring their time on campus. In the end, the researchers found that the first group was much happier at the end of the 30 days, as they had gone out of their way to maximize their enjoyment each day.
Bill writes that the key takeaway is this: “Being aware that your time is limited can clearly motivate you to make the most of the time you do have.”
So, what is time bucketing?
Time-bucketing is a unique strategy designed to help you maximize the value you get from your money. Similar to a bucket list, time-bucketing involves creating a detailed list of all the activities and experiences you’d like to have in your lifetime.
But, where a bucket list is typically created towards the end of one’s life or when faced with a health scare in an attempt to squeeze as many final experiences in as possible, time-bucketing is all about taking a proactive approach to maximizing your life experiences.
That’s because once you’ve listed everything you’d like to do or experience in your lifetime, you then map out the rest of your life in time buckets, in increments of 5 to 10 years. Then, you assign the experiences from your list to the various time buckets. Bill writes: “…by dividing goals into time buckets, you are taking a much more proactive approach to your life. In effect, you’re looking ahead over several coming decades of your life and trying to plan out all the various activities, events, and experiences you’d like to have. Time buckets are proactive and let you plan your life; a bucket list, on the other hand, is a much more reactive effort in a sudden race against time.”
And part of Bill’s advice is to get creative with this exercise and remember that you can’t possibly know all the experiences you’d like to have because life is full of discovery and change. Some of Bill’s examples are:
- Have a child
- Run the Boston Marathon
- Hike the Himalayas
- Build a house
- File a patent
- Start a business
- Dine at a Michelin-star restaurant
- Attend the Sundance Film Festival
- Go skiing 50 times
- Visit Yellowstone
- Attend the Superbowl
But, whatever your list entails, the goal is to be as thoughtful as possible as you identify the essential experiences you’d like to have during your lifetime.
And in the end, when you’ve mapped out the important experiences you’d like to have and assigned them to specific time buckets across the rest of your life, it’s time to figure out how to fund those experiences.
And that’s where we can help.
TrueNorth Wealth is here to help.
If you want to work with a fiduciary CFP® professional to help plan and fund your time buckets, complete with a custom investment portfolio to deliver your financial goals, then TrueNorth Wealth is here to help.
TrueNorth Wealth is among the top Wealth Management firms in Utah and Idaho, with offices in Salt Lake City, Logan, St. George, and Boise. At TrueNorth Wealth, we focus on helping our clients build long-term wealth while maximizing the enjoyment they receive from their money. We do this by pairing our clients with a dedicated CFP® professional backed by an incredible team.
For our team at TrueNorth, it’s about so much more than money. It’s about serving families all across Utah and helping them achieve freedom and flexibility in their lives. To learn more or schedule a no-cost consultation, visit our website at TrueNorth Wealth or call (801) 316-1875.
